The Battle Of UCLA

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LOS ANGELES, Calif. — By the time I reached the encampment that sat between Royce Hall and Powell Library at the University of California, Los Angeles, hundreds of protesters had gathered outside of the barricades set up by law enforcement to keep the crowd away for when officers would sweep through the camp. Everyone was waiting for the moment police would enter the camp.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP), the Los Angeles Sheriff’s County Department (LASD), and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), gathered on the east side of the camp. The west side also had protesters outside the camp’s barricades to form a human shield should police try to enter through there.

Suddenly, a flashbang went off.

I rushed to the west side of the camp and went inside. At the edge, around 30 LAPD officers were inside, much to the anger of the occupiers and outside protesters. As I told the Blaze, the LAPD’s presence inside did not make sense because CHP riot police were tasked with clearing the camp, not LAPD. The officers also did not have the equipment to carry out such a task, wearing only riot helmets and having only a few less-than-lethal launchers. The rest carried batons.

It quickly became clear the LAPD officers were trapped. They did not move as a occupiers created a shield wall and protesters outside blocked the stairway that led to the plaza. Realizing they could not stay in their position, the order was given to withdraw. This invigorated the protesters and they pressed up against the officers, resulting in scuffles. Protesters blocking the stairway likewise fought with the leaving officers. Once the police left, the crowd broke out in celebration, but the night was far from over.

Afterwards, I started to get a lay of the land. Occupiers had good vantage points to the east and west, but were blind to police movements who moved behind Royce Hall and Powell Library. Occupiers relied on protesters outside the barricades to provide them real-time information on where police were moving. Whenever police movement was confirmed to be real, people inside the zone passed down the information further within the camp.

Looking to the east at the main makeshift wall, police stood in formation. Protesters manned the wall, ready to push back against police efforts to remove them.

While at the east side, I talked with a few of the occupiers. Two of them told me while they were students at Occidental College, they wanted to take part in the historic rebellion.

Behind the wall, protesters were prepared for the use of tear gas. They placed water bottles upside down on top of traffic cones, so they can place them over a canister and water it down to stop the gas.

A call went out back at the west side of the camp for reinforcements, shields, and helmets. CHP riot police had started to make a move against the camp. People rushed to the side and again, fighting broke out, but CHP was not successful at making a breach. CHP then tried to the left of the makeshift wall. Again, occupiers shifted manpower and material quickly to meet the patrolmen. When CHP broke through the makeshift wall, the rioters used their bodies’ momentum to push forward and stop CHP from making entry. At this point, multiple flashbangs fired into the air became a common noise. CHP was finally moving on the camp in force.

It took some time before CHP riot police was able to break through the makeshift wall, but once the right side was breached and rioters fled back, it was only a matter of time before the camp fell. But it was slog. While some people ran away, others linked arms to create a human wall, slowing down the cops’ advance. Occupiers used fire extinguishers and bright flashlights to try to blind officers.

But it was only delaying the inevitable. The left side was eventually breached and police rapidly cleared away people from the entrance of Royce Hall. Tents were ripped up and barricades were tossed aside. The giant Palestinian flag in the middle of the camp was thrown to ground by a CHP officer. People who refused to leave were arrested.

The main advance started around 3:00 A.M. and by the time I exited the camp, the sun was beginning to rise.

Fox News reporter Bill Melugin reported over 200 people were arrested. A vast majority of them were quickly released. What happens next is anyone’s guess, as there are promises of anti-Israel protesters setting up another camp at UCLA. But for now, the battle of UCLA was over.

Full video thread on my X (formerly Twitter) account here.